WTI Crude Oil Back Below $100

Risk sentiment continues to strengthen somewhat, sending stocks and the Australian Dollar higher and crude oil lower.

• The war between Russia and Ukraine is in its sixth week, and recent talks suggest the parties may be inching towards a ceasefire. There has been focus on a number of civilian casualties discovered in the Kiev area as Russian troops have pulled back.
• The Forex market is now dominated by strength in the Australian Dollar and to a lesser extent the US Dollar, with the Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc looking weak. Stock markets are stable to bullish while the prices of most commodities are easing.

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• The price of Crude Oil has fallen quite strongly again following news last week that the US is considering releasing a significant amount of its crude oil reserve in an attempt to dampen price rises and inflation. WTI Crude Oil is trading below $100.
• Bitcoin continues to make a bearish consolidation below strong resistance near $48k.
• The Reserve Bank of Australia will be releasing its Cash Rate (expected to remain unchanged at 0.1%) and Rate Statement later. The RBA is beginning to come under hawkish pressure as more analysts believe it will need to begin hiking its Cash Rate in June.
• Turkish inflation data will be released later today and is expected to show an annualized rate of 61.5% for March 2022, which would be a 20-year high and indicate a real negative interest rate of 40%.
• Daily new coronavirus cases globally fell last week for the second consecutive week.
• It is a public holiday in China today.
• The large city of Shanghai in China recorded a record daily number of confirmed new coronavirus cases.
• It is estimated that 64.5% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccination, while approximately 6.2% of the global population is known to have contracted the virus at some stage.
• Total confirmed new coronavirus cases worldwide stand at over 491.8 million with an average case fatality rate of 1.26%.
• The rate of new coronavirus infections appears to now be increasing only in Australia, Barbados, Bhutan, China, Cyprus, France, Germany, Laos, Luxembourg, Malta, Samoa, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vanuatu.